You caught the player’s jersey when he threw it into the crowd. The movie icon was out for a run, crossed the street in front of you, and briefly made eye contact. Or maybe you were on the same flight, recognized him, tweeted about it, and he replied. I remember standing along the side of the road as a child and waving as President Reagan’s motorcade passed by. 

What is it that makes us remember—for the rest of our lives—one brief brush with a celebrity when the reality is that the celebrity doesn’t really even know we exist?

What if we consider that every moment spent with God is an encounter with a celebrity? However, this celebrity not only knows you exist; he has “loved you with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3). He says he rejoices over you with singing. He promises that he is Immanuel, which means “God-with-us.” That means he isn’t God-drove-past-us or God-glimpsed-at-us or God-threw-us-a-jersey. He is the God who took on flesh and promises to never leave us. He promises that nothing can separate us from his love. He promises to bless us, to smile on us, and to give us peace. And instead of giving us his autograph, he’s engraved us on the palm of his hand and written our names in the book of life.

These are the things we remember our whole lives.